NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up of new Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and dairy-fishery cooperatives in uncovered villages and panchayats in the next five years to strengthen the cooperative sector.
The new PACS would provide 25 different facilities to the members. Dairy and fishery will also be linked to the agri cooperatives. At present, there are around about 63,000 functional PACS in the country.
The Cabinet approved steps to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country and deepen its reach up to the grassroots. The plan is to establish PACS in each uncovered panchayat, viable dairy cooperatives in each uncovered panchayat/village and viable fishery cooperatives in each coastal panchayat/village as well as panchayat/village having large water bodies.
The initial target is to establish 2 lakh multipurpose PACS/dairy/fishery cooperatives in the next five years, I&B Minister Anurag Thakur said at a Cabinet briefing. The plan will be implemented with the convergence of various schemes by leveraging the ‘whole of government’ approach. The proposal will enable cooperative societies to set up and modernise necessary infrastructure.
It will provide farmer members with requisite forward and backward linkages and enhance their income. The move will also help in generating employment opportunities in rural areas.
In June last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the computerisation of PACS to increase the efficiency of PACS as well as to bring transparency and accountability in their operations. The computerisation will help in facilitating PACS to diversify their business and undertake multiple activities/ services.
The 63,000 odd functional PACS are being computerised with a total budget outlay of ₹2,516 crore which includes a central share of ₹1,528 crore.
(Manas Dasgupta)
